For the first few entries of Cincinnati Re-adventure, I'm going to be playing catch-up on the places I've been in the past month or so-- after I decided to reclaim Cincinnati, but before I considered starting a new blog for it.

However, today's entry is from the delicious lunch Dan and I had today, at my much-loved Take the Cake.

My first experience with Take the Cake came when I was looking for a dessert to bring to a party; Dan suggested Northside's local bakery, and the half-dozen cupcakes we ordered were fantastic. (The red velvet cupcakes went over particularly well.)

But Take the Cake serves lunch too, and the daily menus they post online make me salivate every time I read them. Today it was the "G-BLT" that lured me in ("G" = "guacamole"). I'm still drooling a little, and I've already eaten the damn thing. Dan had the chicken stew with buttermilk biscuits (I tried it-- warm and flavorful, very comfort food-y).

Naturally, you don't leave Take the Cake without one of their desserts. They have an entire case stocked with cakes, cupcakes and brownies, as well as plates of cookies and pies. Selection can be difficult. Dan tried the peanut butter brownie (which I'm happy to say has none of that fake PB taste) and I had a yellow cupcake with "Italian strawberry buttercream icing" which I would recommend to anyone, absolutely. Again, the icing has none of the artificial taste I've come to expect-- it tastes like the actual fruit, with a sharp twang and natural sweetness.

Take the Cake is another one of my successes for my goal of supporting local business-- every time I eat at the café I come away wondering why I would eat at a Panera or a Bruegger's when this kind of place exists in my neighborhood. It's not just a matter of local economy-- the food actually tastes better, is made of better things, is locally grown and often organic... hell, you can watch it being made from scratch in the open kitchen behind the cash register. You walk away feeling better on all fronts.